Sarah Simonis/For The Star-LedgerBloomfield Technical principal Eric Love, right, and Bill Payne, left, deputy chief of staff for Essex County, hold a flag celebrating the school's National Blue Ribbon School award today. BLOOMFIELD -- The "National Blue Ribbon School" flag has flown over the campuses at the private Montclair Kimberley Academy and at such places as Livingston High School in the leafy suburbs.

Today, Eric Love — principal of Bloomfield Technical High School and an alum of the Class of 1980 — gripped his school’s own Blue Ribbon banner, which is now destined to fly at the trade school turned academic "miracle."

Bloomfield Technical became one of nine New Jersey schools — and one of only 223 nationally — to receive the coveted federal designation by demonstrating academic superiority or dramatic gains in student achievement.

Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., who as Essex County executive has won accolades for remaking the parks and upgrading neglected facilities, rated the Blue Ribbon designation as perhaps the best achievement of his tenure.

"This is without question, right at the top, if not the top," he said.

Bloomfield Tech’s results on the HSPA, or High School Proficiency Assessment, was nothing short of stellar, with 100 percent achieving adequately yearly progress in language arts and 93.4 percent doing the same in mathematics as measured by the No Child Left Behind law.

"Do not think this is the end-all," Love cautioned the students. "We are only going on to much better things. I know it."

Today, at the Franklin Street school, past a sea of blue balloons and just inside the front doors, Angel Guerrero, a 16-year-old junior, was among a chorus greeting visitors with a hearty "Hi. Welcome to Bloomfield Tech!"

"Proud of it," he said of the school’s honors. "I worked hard, studied, got good grades."

The hints of the mindset can be spotted along the hallways. "Be on Time" reads one sign. "Dare to Dream" says another.

It’s a message that no doubt wasn’t lost on ShaQuill Thomas, a senior selected to speak to a packed auditorium.

"All I wanted was to finish my four years and move on," he said after his arrival at Bloomfield Tech as a freshman. Then, life changed. He latched on to the school’s "exploratory shops," landed in two business clubs and the National Honor Society, he said.

"As you can see, I didn’t step aside and let life pass me by," Thomas said. "I had to go beyond what was expected of me by others."

Michael Corbitt, a father of a student and president of the school’s Parent-Teacher-Student Association, said the honor shatters "the old myth that the technical schools aren’t educationally sound."

Michael Pennella — who as superintendent of the county’s vocational technical district, also oversees Newark Tech, North 13th Street Tech and West Caldwell Tech — said he was feeling like a dad himself today, one who remembers "how wonderful the other siblings are."

"This is a community where people give before they think about taking," Pennella said of the teamwork among students, teachers and staff.

To Patricia Parisi, a longtime guidance counselor, it is Love who fits that bill.

"You’d never know he’s principal. He just picks up and does whatever needs to be done," she said. "He won’t ask you to do anything he wouldn’t do."

These days, Pennella said, nearly 95 percent of the student body goes on to either a 2- or 4-year college, even though more than 85 percent of Bloomfield Tech students receive free or reduced-cost lunches.

"This is a big deal," he said of the honor whose New Jersey recipients include Newark’s Science High School and Ridge High in Bernards Township. "It is so well earned."

Shortly after the celebration, Parisi, the guidance counselor, said she witnessed the transition from the vo-tech of old.

"If you weren’t going to college, go here and learn a trade," she said of the time. Then, the introduction of college prep courses came. "I think it’s a home run. It’s the best of both worlds. You learn a trade. You can go on to college. It makes them well-rounded."